Utilization of distillery effluent as substrate for power generation with optimized parametric conditions using microbial fuel cell

Abstract

Distillery effluents create many environmental problems via their direct disposal in open ponds. There is a need to explore the technology for treating such wastes and making useful energy from it. In the modern era, Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) are gaining popularity regarding working mechanism for treating wastewater as well as electricity generation. Current study primarily focuses to utilize distillery effluent as valuable substrate in microbial fuel cell coupled with a parametric effect. Saccharomyces cerevisiae were utilized as biocatalyst in MFC with different organic loads in the form of substrate concentration followed by various aeration rate, and pH for power generation. With numerous changes in aeration rate, substrate concentration, and pH values automatically effect on power generation. The maximum power generation was observed at 175 mg/l about power density 69 mW/m 2 , current density 82.48 mA/m 2 , voltage 770 mv, power 0.6391 mW and current 0.83 mA. It is concluded that by utilizing microbial fuel cell we can handle the problem associated with distillery wastewater. A further study could be done on the modification of the process based on commercial and different operational aspects.